Predictions for WWE's Wrestlemania 29 card featuring Rock vs. Cena

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson defends his WWE championship against John Cena tonight at New Jersey’s Met Life Stadium as part of Wrestlemania 29.

That bout is one of ten matches scheduled for pro wrestling's Super Bowl. Here’s a look and predictions for the card:

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson vs. John Cena for the WWE title: Cena gets his win back from last year’s WrestleMania defeat to The Rock. Johnson’s film career is as hot as ever, with “Snitch”, “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” and “Pain and Gain” all released within the last three months, and “The Fast and the Furious 6” due out next month. He also starts filming “Hercules” in May for director Brett Ratner. With his busy schedule, the fact,that he’s taking his movie time off for the WrestleMania gig is a feat in itself. So, The Rock's not going to be around WWE to defend the championship at house shows.

WWE has been pushing the storyline that Cena ‘s life went into a tailspin after his loss to The Rock at WrestleMania 28 . The company's even briefly showing the TMZ headline of Cena's real life divorce onscreen in promos. The hardcore wrestling fans won’t be happy with Cena’s win, but the kids and his female fans will.

John Cena, 2010 | Source

The Undertaker vs. C.M. Punk: Undertaker’s 20 and 0 record at WrestleMania is on the line, but “The Dead Man” takes the victory and keeps the streak going. These two should put on a good match, although Undertaker has been out of action for a year (except for an appearance on the Raw 1000 broadcast in July). WWE has been using the real life passing of Undertaker’s manager Paul Bearer (William Moody) as an angle to have Punk disrespect Bearer’s passing. This has resulted in not the most tasteful WWE skits promoting the match.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger for the WWE World Title:: WWE has tried their best to make Alberto Del Rio a babyface (good guy). The company wants to have a superstar who will bring in the Latino audience,as Rey Mysterio has done for the last decade. Mysterio with his high flying Lucha style, has been injured frequently of late and his contract expires next year. Sin Cara (the former Mistico) has also suffered some ring injuries during his time in WWE, including a recent concussion. WWE hasn't given him a push, either.

This bout has Del Rio taking on the former "All American American", Jack Swagger.Swagger's new gimmick has been that he and his manager Zeb Colter (Wayne Keown formerly known as Dutch Mantel and Uncle Zebekiah) are Tea Party types who are anti immigration and think the country is broken. They consider themselves true “Real Americans”. Note the Colter last name, as in conservative political commentator Ann Coulter.The pair’s favorite phrase to use in promos is “We the People!”.

Del Rio will win this WrestleMania 29 bout, but the feud will go on for another pay per view or two.

One strange thing took place in February, when Colter and Swagger responded to conservative TV host Glenn Beck's assertion that sports entertainers were "stupid wrestling people". In a YouTube video, Keown and Jake Hager (Swagger) broke character and addressed Beck by saying they’re just entertainers playing characters like on “Glee” or “NCIS”. They gave their real names and showed how this video promo was made using a green screen for the background. We know that the WWE is sports entertainment or theater, but to have the duo appear on YouTube and admit these things, was pretty unique.

Zeb Colter and Jack Swagger

Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar No Holds Barred with Triple H’s career on the line: Lesnar, the former UFC heavyweight champ, beat Triple H at last year’s SummerSlam. Triple H will have Shawn Michaels in his corner this time. Triple H and Lesnar should have a stiff, physical match at Wrestlemania 29. Expect to see lots of chair shots to the back from each competitor, with one or both men going through the announcers table via a pedigree or F-5. Lesnar has “broken” Triple H’s arm twice in storyline during the last year. Triple H (Paul Levesque), WWE Chairman Vince McMahon’s real life son in law, has been busy in the front office this year, and his wrestling career is winding down. But, I don’t see Triple H losing this time. Although, he could be like most wrestlers (except Michaels) who retire but eventually get back in the ring again. I can see Stephanie McMahon,Triple H’s wife and the WWE chairman’s daughter, getting involved in the match by fighting with Lesnar’s manager, Paul Heyman outside the ring.

Randy Orton, Sheamus, and Big Show vs. The Shield: It’s too early to have The Shield lose or split them up. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Big Show turn on his own partners. On the other hand, there could be a swerve here and Randy Orton turns heel again and helps The Shield. Orton likes being a heel (bad guy) more than a babyface.

Roman Reigns of Seth Rollins of The Shield, 2013 | Source

Fandango (Johnny Curtis) vs. Chris Jericho: Fandango will get the rub by beating the veteran Jericho. Fandango makes his WWE Pay Per View debut on the company’s biggest show of the year.

“World’s Strongest Man” Mark Henry vs. Ryback: Henry has been destroying opponents and non opponents on WWE television lately because, as he says, “that’s what I do”. Ryback (Ryan Reeves) is undefeated in WWE Pay Per View singles matches, and is booked much like Bill Goldberg was in WCW. I can see a double disqualification here or Henry leaving the ring to get counted out.

Ryback, 2013 | Source

Wade Barrett vs. The Miz for the Intercontinental title: Barrett takes this bout, but Miz beats him on the next pay per view. That leads to a Miz feud with a heel Kofi Kingston. There’s been talk of Kofi turning heel, and you would think a match with Miz would then be in the cards.

Tons of Funk & Funkadactyls vs. Rhodes Scholars & Bella Twins: Match could go either way. Still, the Tons of Funk (Brodus Clay and Tensai) along with the Funkadactyls (Cameron and Naomi) will get to dance in the ring after the bout.

Plus, old school wrestling fans, mark your calendars to tune in to the USA network this Tuesday night, April 9th at 10:00 PM, 9:00 PM central. That’s when highlights from this Saturday’s WWE Hall of Fame ceremony will air, including the induction of “Wrestling’s Living Legend” Bruno Sammartino by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now if only there could be a real WWE Hall of Fame complex built…